Automatically-unslagging shaft construction for water-gas generators



P. KOSTER.

AUTOMATICALLY UNSLAGGING SHAFT CONSTRUCTION FOR WATER GAS GENERATORS. APPLICATION FILED OCT. 2, 1915 1,400,885 Patented Dec. 20, 1921.

-II I stares" IIIILIPIP KOSTER, ()1 FRANKFORT-ON THEEKQIN, GERMAN".

Specification (if-Letters Patent. Patented Dec. 2, 192i.

Application filed October 2, 1915. Serial No. 53,781.

(GRANTED UNDER THE FRGVISIONS AGT OF MARCH 3, 1921, 41 STATE. L, 1313.)

clear, and exact description thereof, reten ones being had to the accompanying dra inns, which form part of this specification.

This invention relates to water gas producers in which an automatically rinsing-- p ing sha it with abaslret-like grate having a central unslagging opening is employed.

The employment of a basket-like grate in connection with water-gas producers as hereto-fore constructed, whereby the unsafe and expensive mechanical turning; of the grates is avoided, presents a series of diliiculties which are overcome by an advantageous arrangement such as hereinafter described and shown in the accompanying drawings. 7

What has been very easy with generators for producing; generator gas has proven very ditlicult with water-gas generators. With generator-gas producers the question is one of continuous working. whereas with watergas producers it is a question of periodical working. In generator gas producers a uniform air current. or air and steam current, travels through the generator always in the same direction, that is, fromv above to below and the steam admitted cools the turning grate, while the air supplied absorbs the carbon from the fuel, so that on the turning grate slags only are left. which owing to the steam supplied, are cooled and broken into easily broken pieces, The pressure in such generators is also low and always uniform. in the interior of the turning grate air only is present, so that the cavity beneath the turning grate can be kept large without the danger of explosion, which might otherwise result. In the operation of water gas producers the pressure in the generator changes from 24. to 30 times per hour, for instance, the pressure is at 0 when fillingthe gen-- orator, and is from 500 to 600 millimeters during the sharp blowing, and agein at 0 when changingv from blowing to gassing and from 150 to 250 millimeters curing the sing (depending on the retort pressure and water seals,that is. oi divings, for in the first place, the diving for each seal must amount to about one meter water column to insure a safe working, and secondly. the ,vessels must be of such dimensions that an eventual water ejection caused by the rapid high pressure vibrations will not result in working interruptions, and with such high divine it is di.iiicult to remove the from the turning cup of the turning grate. Vi ith an ordinary generator as producer with low diving, the slag travels automatically over an inserted inclined slide out of the cup, in order to fall into the slap; truck placed beside thelat-ter. With water flis s production with high diving in the turning cup the slag will not automatically travel. up the inclined plane. but KlLlShbG raised from the cup bottom byan elevator, helix or the like, and consequently the high column causes great friction and quick wear of the turning crate and. operating; mechanism, and even small disturbances result in interruptions and in cumbersome, expensive and time-wasting repairs. In order to avoid such diffi ulties in the employment oft turninggrates, the dry turning ,QI'Elllfi has been employed instead of the wet turning grate formerly used, but the latter has resulted in still more dangerous dithculties for the water-gas producer. The in onvenient removal of the slag is avoided by this construction, but a soiling); of the lower part of the cavity of the turning grate takes place which is very dangerou for the water gas producer to which there is no access from the outside, and necessary repairs result again in great disturbances. The most dangerous feature the operation of the dry wide limits, aggravate the employment of v turning grate, however, is thedncrease'd danger of explosion 1n the large turning grate cavity and in the tlll more dangerous lower cavity. When blowing, the turnin grate-cavity 1s filled with air, and part or this air, mixed with small quantities of gen-- erator gas; flows for a pressure balance,

I tion by hand has hitherto been preferred in through the slag layer into the lower cavity beneath'the turnable slag cup. When changing: from blowingto the pressure in this lower cavity at first falls to O, it is then refilled with good water gas, whnli as it travels through the coke column in a direction from above to below, passes into the large turning; grate cavlty in order to flow from thence through the lower outlet (which atthe same time is also an air inlet) to the scrubber. Owing to the pressure distance f om 0' to 200 or to 250 lilllll meters water column, the corre'spondlng quantity of. water'gas also flows into the lower cavrtybeneath the turning cup and forms with the air mixture therein an exnlosive gas mixture which at any time during the change of working, owing to the es caning of the gases by the pressure balance, might cause'ignition of these gases at the glowing coke layer, and eventually cause bad explosions in the lower part of the turning grate. Even the best turning grate coir structions water ga producers ofi'er drawback since the slagr removed frequently leaves the generator mixed withmuch coke which naturally makes the unslagging proovery uneconomic one. There is again difference between the continuously workinn; generator ggas producer and the periodical working gas producer. The workingof the latter is frequently interrupted 61- a longer time as the water consumption i variable and a: small gas container only is aya'ilable for the reception of the water produced; The attendant eil'ects inany rapid consecutive sharp blowing and gassing i -perlods as necessary "for filling: the gas container in spite of the permanent consump tion. Then he interrupts the working for a certain time in order to again feed the generator with the required quantity of colre or to do other impending work so that the container has again fallen so :tar that it again needs quick attention. An automatically running turning grate will. not easily adapt itself to these irequent changes of working. 1 Besides, the coke which is mixed with the slag has slipped down the turning vgrate that the air can not touch it and it utility in the generator is lost. Owing to the above des ribed diiiiculties con nected with the employment of a turning; grate, the cumbersome unslagging operaconnection with water gas enerators. For this purpose auxiliary" grate consisting of single strong flat iron bars are driven 'terstiees.

1 aooess into the generator through the opened slag doors at the uppermost point of the latter,

and thi auxiliary grate was provided to keep the good coke in a raised position, when the slag and the intermixed'coke was pulled out of the generator between the and the auxiliary turning grate. Thus, the gratecould again be cleanedfrom any slag; but this cleaning: required from half an hour to an hour. depending upon the size 'the generator. Furthermore, the work connected therewith was cumbersome and the attendance of from four to six men was reouired for the unslagging as the attendance upon a generator as operation, wherescribed [in the present invention require:-:;

only one man. Furthen during the removal process large deposits of coke would be re moved'along with the slag, and must be either lost with the slag or must be separated from it and again fedto the generator. After each of these unslagginsprocesses the cokelayer in the generator would fall con.

siderably; the missing column, which was taken out of the generator between the auxiliary .qrate and the grate, must be reple d by refilling, which. again was time wa- In the present invention an automatically unslaggring' shaftfor water producers is obtained by connecting the central unslaqlilre grate and the upper edge of the diving pipe and comes in touch w h the fresh incoming oxygen of the blowi air. and is safely burned, the heat nroduced being utilized in the generator. The hot blown colrerest in the slag", falls oif from deco? tion, when touched by the steam iiowin the'generator below the grate so that steam burns the last glowing; coke rests out ofthe slag for the water gas iorination. fat the same time. by the working of the slag;

and ashes the bulk otthe'latter reducd so that its removal is facilitated. ThGCGlP struction-has the further advantage thatthc noxious space beneath the grate becomes small as it could hitherto be obtained with the normal water gas generator only, so that neither explosions can take place nor a bad water gas be produced by soiling with nitrogen. Nith turning grate generators itwas hitherto not yet possible to reduce the large nox ous cavities. Further, by reason of the QXlSlZlIlgmud, the danger of water the 1 ,ao ees coming in too close relation with the steam, the glowing coke, or the gas to be formed, is admntz igeously avoided. Furthermore when gassing from below to above the steam below the grate is kept from coming in touch with cold. iron bars, a result which was otherwise unavoidable with turning grates and caused vigorous condensed water formations and an uneconomic steam consumption. This construction has, further, no sensitive parts, and permits the removal. of the slag masses through the interstices of the connection pipe by means of slaggingtools and without requiring any interruption in the working. My invention is illustrated in the accompanying; drawing which represents an appropriate form of construction.

Figure 1 shows the shaft in a longitudinal section, and

Fig. 2 is a cross section 0:: the same.

1 and 2 represent the channels 1"" troduction of air or steam. or to the effective gas and are each connected with steam supply pipes 8 and 9, and also with as leading oil pipes 5 and 6, the channel 1 eing further a blast and chimney opening. 0 represents a fire door; ll a basket-like :rae; 12 a conically shaped shaft bottom; 3 a diving pip-e; l l, mud, and 15 a slag emoving device. In the present invention, between the upper edge of the diving pipe and the lower edge of the basket-like grate 1-, a connection pipe 16 is arranged which is provided with large interstices, 1'? is a slap; door. The operation (it the invention is as follows:

The air is pressed from the air pipe '7 through the channel 1 beneath the basketlilze grateaud escapes in products of combustion from the shaft through the chimney opening. After blowing, the air valve of the air pipe '7 and chimney opening 3 are closed and steam is supplied through pipe 8 into the channel. 1. The steam circulates through the grate and the whole coke col umn and leaves a shaft in the form of water gas through the channel 2 and passes through the valve 4, thence to the main gas valve 6. After the gassing and closing of the steam pipe 8 and of the gas valve a, the chimney 3 is reopened and supplied from the pipe 7 through the channel 1, as before. After the heating of the coke and the closing; of the air valve in the pipe 7 and of the chimney 3, steam is then driven from above through the channel 2 and through the coke column, and the finished water gas penetrates the basket-like ovate in order tr pass through channel 1 through the valve 5 and then to the main gas pipe 6. The slag formed during this working slips on the inclined basket-like grate to its deep est point and falls thence through the central opening into the space between the grate ll and shaft bottom 112 from which point it again falls through the diving pipe 13 into the mud 14.. The inclination of the basketlike grate 11 must of course be such that the slag formed on the grate moves automatically toward its bottom opening. Consequently, that part or" the slag layer which lies between the basket-like grate 11 and the diving pipe comes into effective touch with steam and air and is thoroughly freed from any coke-rests. I

Without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention it can be put into practice in the following manner. instead of a separate connection pipe the basketlilze grate can be provided with a cylindrical or conical grate-like extension. Furthermore,

between the opening of the basket-like grate 11 and the upperedge of the diving pipe 13,1: free space through which steam and air travels, may be created in such a way that the supporting tube 16 can be entirely omitted. In this case the basket-like grate must be so constructed that the free spaces can be maintained therein by the proper spacing of the basket, or by some other means.

What I claim is 1. A furnace for the production of watergas comprising a shaft having a feed openingin its upper end and conically-shaped bottom having a centrally.- disposed opening therethrough, a diving pipe depending from said opening, a bashetlike grate supported above the shaft bottom and having a central opening therethrough or? smaller size than the opening in said shaft bottom and an annular grate-like connection between said shaft bottom and basket-like grate surrounding said openings and enlarging toward the opening in the shaft bottom.

2. In combination with a shaft furnace for the production of water-gas having a conically-shaped bottom, a basket-like grate supported above said bottom. a combined valve-controlled air and steam inlet and outlet pipe opening into said shaft between said conically-shaped bottom and basketlike grate, a valve-controlled steam inlet and outlet pipe opening into the upper part of said shaft, and a valve-controlled pipe connected with said combined inlet and outlet pipes tor carrying off the gas issues alternately through said pipes.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I ailiX my signature in presence of two witnesses.

PHILIP? ROSTER.

Witnesses:

Funnnron. CARL i/VENTZEL, MAX HERMANN HorrNnR. 

